xvi, 400 pages : 23 cm

"Charting the birth and growth of craft beer across the United States, Tom Acitelli offers an epic, story-driven account of one of the most inspiring and surprising American grassroots movements. In 1975, there was a single craft brewery in the United States; today there are more than 2,000. Now this once-fledgling movement has become ubiquitous nationwide--there's even a honey ale brewed at the White House. This book not only tells the stories of the major figures and businesses within the movement, but it also ties in the movement with larger American culinary developments. It also charts the explosion of the mass-market craft beer culture, including magazines, festivals, home brewing, and more. This entertaining and informative history brims with charming, remarkable stories, which together weave a very American business tale of formidable odds and refreshing success"--

Includes bibliographical references (pages 385-387) and index

Part 1. The last shall be first ; Do it yourself ; Beer for its own sake ; Eden, California ; TV dinner land ; Lite up ahead ; "Brewed through a horse" ; The most influential beer ; Chez McAuliffe ; The bard of beer ; Long days, longer odds -- Part 2. Tipping points ; "Small, high-quality food places" ; The bearded young man from Chico ; The fireman and the goat shed ; The west coast style ; Mayflower refugee ; How the brewpub was born ; The first shakeout ; "That's a great idea, Charlie" ; The third wave builds ; The lesson of the nylon string ; "This connoisseur thing" ; Because wine making takes too long ; More than in Europe ; Beer, it's what's with dinner ; Vats and dogs ; To the last frontier and back ; Weeping radishes and Scottish lords ; Here, there, and everywhere -- Part 3. Unhappy meals ; Second careers ; Davids and Goliaths ; Five hundred miles in a rented Honda ; New York minutes ; The revolution, televised ; A manifesto and Arnold Schwarzenegger ; The value of gold ; "The tyranny of fast growth" ; Finding role models, defying labels ; Ghosts around the machines ; Cherry brew and naked hockey ; In prime time ; Critical mass ; The potato-chip epiphany ; The brewpubs boom ; Suds and the city ; Attack of the phantom crafts ; "Budhook" and the bull beer market ; Last call for the old days ; Big beer's biggest weapon ; The French lieutenant's coat ; To the extreme ; The total package ; Boos ; The movement's biggest setback ; Lucky bastards ; A tale of two breweries ; The great shakeout ; Victory abroad, defeat at home -- Part 4. Plotting a comeback ; "McDonald's versus fine food" ; Craft beer logs on ; Growing pains again ; Still the latest thing ; Crushing it ; WIth gusto ; A great passing ; Beer, premium ; Exit the godfather ; Big crowds and the new small ; "The Albion brewery."

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews